Your team is feeling uncertain about social impact trends. How can you boost their morale?

People often reject what they don't understand, so I would start by educating the team on current social impact trends and their importance. Sharing examples of successful initiatives within the industry and showing tangible results can inspire confidence and motivation. Engaging the team in developing and refining social impact strategies can create a sense of ownership and commitment to the goals. By educating, inspiring, and involving the team, you can foster a positive and motivated mindset towards social impact trends and help alleviate their uncertainty.

1. Refocus on Why: Take a step back and remind yourselves of the bigger picture. Why does your organization exist? What positive change are you all working towards? Revisit your core values and mission statement. This will provide a stable foundation during uncertain times. 2. Common Goal, Stronger Team: By remembering your shared purpose, you can ensure everyone's efforts are aligned. Working together towards a common goal builds a stronger, more motivated team. 3. My Perspective: Uncertainty is normal! Social impact trends constantly evolve, and that's a good thing! It means we can keep finding new and better ways to make a difference. Let's see this as an exciting opportunity to learn and grow together.

En mi experiencia, además de las estrategias mencionadas, encuentro que la transparencia juega un papel crucial en fortalecer la moral del equipo frente a las dinámicas del impacto social. Comunicar abiertamente los desafíos y oportunidades que enfrenta la organización, así como involucrar activamente a los empleados en la toma de decisiones estratégicas, no solo construye confianza, sino que también empodera a cada miembro del equipo para contribuir de manera significativa al éxito colectivo. Esto crea un ambiente donde todos se sienten valorados y motivados a trabajar hacia un propósito compartido, fortaleciendo así el compromiso y la resiliencia en tiempos de cambio y transformación.

Talk to an expert! Even just 60 minutes with an expert can give you the exact insights you need on new trends, methodologies and best practices (vs researching these yourself would take you weeks.) And this way you don´t fall into the "you don´t know what you don´t know". This expert may already be in your company- such as on your CSR or sustainability team. If not, LinkedIn is a great place to find an expert to hire for a quick advising call.

Remember that social impact does not operate in a vacuum, which means that trends, methodologies, and best practices don't either. Applying these tools only works if you consider the context of what you're working towards, and whether or not they're really relevant to the impact you're having. Flexibility and openness to modifications are some of the most important qualities to keep in mind.

Reconhecimento. Acredito que compartilhar os bons resultados e sinalizar os grandes realizadores/apoiadores levanta a moral e o engajamento nas iniciativas. Quando se trabalha com o social, pequenas vitórias são o início da transformação e tem que ser comunicadas e comemoradas.

Promover a colaboração e o senso de pertencimento é chave para vencer os desafios e gerar engajamento... principalmente quando para o atingimento de resultados é necessario a força de trabalho do programa de voluntariado. O senso de comunidade do grupo de voluntários trás novos participantes e acelera o atingimento de resultados.

Abrace a flexibilidade e as diferenças. Ter times / equipes diversas e com liberdade de criar e executar as ações, aumenta o engajamento, principalmente de colaboradores e voluntários mais jovens, que gostam desse tipo de ambiente de trabalho. Aceitar experimentações e novas perspectivas pode aumentar muito a moral e o engajamento do time. Pontos marco para verificação do andamento das atividades e atingimento de resultados para deixar todos confortáveis e cientes dos avanços e desafios.

This is essential in the social impact space. The work you're doing to enact change on the micro level may eventually lead to larger shifts, but it can be difficult to remember this in the day-to-day work. Maintaining support for one another helps avoid burnout and encourages sustained passion for the work you're doing over the long term.

Living with uncertainty can sometimes feel like the only constant in social impact work! You cannot guarantee your team the funding you need to ensure the project's survival will definitely materialise. You cannot promise them that the project will continue, let alone with them. However, you can listen to their fears and concerns. You can tell them you are doing everything possible to secure further funding and are optimistic. If this project faces challenges, you'll learn from them and find new ways to make a difference. Share what information you have and be honest when you can't answer their questions. If you can't alleviate the uncertainty around what is happening in your space, you can at least become an anchor for your team.

It is important to anchor your cause and find flexible intersections you can work with. The social impact sector is exhausting, non rewarding work, making efforts to educate yourself on newer trends an additional task- more often than not added financial, mental and emotional burden to do so. Working in teams to identity potential trends and how they intersect with your cause can help tremendously.